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Mini Retirement: An Extended Break From Work

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Mini retirement is when you take an extended break from work in the prime of your career. Here is my experience after taking a year off work.

Today is the last day of a thirteen-month long mini retirement.

I eluded the 9-to5 from October 6, 2015 to December 4, 2016 through frugality and living on various income streams.

I can’t believe it’s over. It’s a bittersweet feeling, to tell you the truth.

Even though I have my regrets, overall, it was totally worth it.

In fact, I would recommend that you take a mini retirement if you’re struggling to find purpose.

If you’ve got a sizeable chunk of money saved up and don’t enjoy your day job, stop going now! I mean it! Ask your employer to take a leave of absence. If they don’t oblige, quit!

What is a Mini Retirement?

A mini retirement is when you choose to take an extended break from work during the prime of your career.

It is not a sick leave or forced leave of absence, either.

A mini-retirement is something an individual chooses to do because they no longer want to work.

The reason for quitting could be that they no longer enjoy the job, or to search for more fulfilling work. Also, mini retirements are great for spending more time with family and friends.

Whatever that reason, mini retirements can be a self-reflective, eye-opening experience.

Pros and Cons of Mini Retirement:

Pros

  • Opportunity to travel
  • More time for family and friends
  • Prioritize values
  • Improve skills
  • Time to think
  • Improved diet and health
  • Time for hobbies
  • More energy
  • Improved sleeping patterns
  • Saving money on coffee/commuting/work expenses.
  • Opportunity to start a business

Cons

  • No consistent income
  • The fact that most friends/family still work during the day
  • Requires personal motivation
  • Requires planning
  • Spending savings
  • Lengthen time frame until retirement
  • There are more productive ways to spend money, such as buying a house

Mini-Retirement Changed My Career

The best part about a mini retirement is that it can be whatever you want.

It’s a chance to test financial independence, start an online business, learn more about yourself, and ultimately see if your goals make sense.

During my 13 months off, I spent the bulk of my time blogging and investing. I even day traded crude oil ETFs for 4 months.

More importantly, though, the extra time off led to a passion for blogging.

Back in 2016, 9 months into the mini retirement year off, I wrote:

After 9 months off: I WANT TO BECOME A FULL TIME BLOGGER!

I realized blogging combines all of my favourite things: Writing, photography, design, marketing, branding, and requires a long term progressive approach to be successful.

I couldn’t practice any of these skills while day jobbing.

So that’s why my goal is to become a blogger.

This was the conclusion that I came to during my year off. From then on, my goal was financial independence through blogging and investing.

So if you take a mini retirement in the prime of your career, you might end up with an entirely different career path altogether.

Nevertheless, a mini-retirement summoned a life that makes me tick.

Perhaps time off work for you…

What I did during Mini Retirement

I spent the majority of my mini retirement day trading, dividend investing, and blogging.

I enjoyed every single morning, because it wasn’t rushed like the 9 to 5 lifestyle is.

There was no commuting or waking up early to look presentable.

Every single morning was at my pace. I woke up, made coffee, and relaxed at my desk for the first 30 minutes of the day.

Admittedly, I look back and wonder if I should’ve travelled more. I went to Mexico, Niagara Falls, and on a few other small road trips in Canada.

Otherwise, I became a wine enthusiast. For a few weeks On some occasions, I was on an all out drinking binge.

Besides the trips and extra time with friends and family, the year off was personally expansive experience that reinvigorated my life.

The extra time provided clarity, because I had time to relax and think.

I was able to consider what I truly wanted out of a career. Since then, I have completely redirected my career.

Now I frame work around my life instead of letting work dictate my life. My career is based around my goal to become a blogger, which is why I switched over to the Barista FIRE path.

Considerations For Taking A Mini-Retirement

To those out there considering a mini-retirement of your own, I have some advice for you based on the my last 13 months of experience.

Start A Blog. I’m sure you saw this one coming, but wouldn’t it be cool to document your journey? As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been blogging since November 2015 now. The whole year-off journal is now something I can reflect on for the rest of my days. Blogging has been a revolutionary experience in terms of skill and relationship building.

Say Yes Instead Of No. If you’re like I used to be then you say no a lot. You say no to fun with friends because you think you’ve got everything figured out, you’re too tight with money, or you are simply too damn tired after the work week. If there’s anything you do during the time off, it should be to open yourself up to new experiences as much as possible. You just never know who you might meet and how they’ll make an impact on you.

Develop Habits & Build Routines. It’s so incredibly easy to mismanage our most valuable commodity, time. It’s easy to get side tracked when you’re not subject to any schedule. That said, it’s important to determine the structure of each day in advance. Don’t wake up and flip on the T.V. or you’ll probably start doing that every morning.

Prepare Financially. This should not come as a surprise because life requires money, however, there’s a few points worth mentioning. The first is to not assume how much money you need to live on each month. Don’t guess! Create a simple spreadsheet to track monthly expenses and project out from there. You also might want to practice an income adjusted lifestyle in advance.

Get Creative AF With Expressing Yourself. It’s an absolute must to express yourself as much as possible during an extended absence from the 9-to-5. Why? Because this is the opportunity to try all the things you’ve always wanted. It’s a chance to find yourself. You can get that haircut you’ve always wanted and start wearing the clothes you really like. Hell, get a tattoo if that’s your thing. It’s your time.

A mini-retirement is prime for chasing those contradistinctive things in life you’ve secretly coveted.

Concluding Thoughts on Mini Retirement

The bottom line is time off helps you understand what you want to spend time on. That is the my main takeaway from taking a year long mini retirement.

During a mini retirement, you will naturally gravitate towards what you want to spend time on.

And if the time off is used properly, it can be used to find purpose and more fulfilling work.

It’s easy to get off course during the transition from school to work. Then one day 5 to 10 years down the road, you find yourself on a different path than expected – an unsatisfying path.

Before I took a mini retirement, I was feeling empty, unfulfilled, and like I was just putting in my time. It was in a soul-crushing routine.

So if you feel like you’re fading away at your day job, just know that time off helps and you have options.

If you already feel sick about going back to the 9-to-5 tomorrow, I’d encourage you to at least consider alternative options:

Keep reading: Short on time? 7 Ways to make more Time before Financial Independence

A small financial set back early on in life might lead to the most abundant gains in later years.

Questions: What other important things should be considered when taking a mini-retirement? How would you spend a year off work?

I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post may contain advertisements by Monumetric and Google Adsense. This post may also contains internal links, affiliate links to BizBudding, Amazon, Bluehost, and Questrade, links to trusted external sites, and links to RTC social media accounts.

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